5,649 research outputs found
Magnetic anisotropy, first-order-like metamagnetic transitions and large negative magnetoresistance in the single crystal of GdPdSi
Electrical resistivity (), magnetoresistance (MR), magnetization,
thermopower and Hall effect measurements on the single crystal
GdPdSi, crystallizing in an AlB-derived hexagonal structure are
reported. The well-defined minimum in at a temperature above N\'eel
temperature (T= 21 K) and large negative MR below 3T, reported
earlier for the polycrystals, are reproducible even in single crystals. Such
features are generally uncharacteristic of Gd alloys. In addition, we also
found interesting features in other data, e.g., two-step first-order-like
metamagnetic transitions for the magnetic field along [0001] direction. The
alloy exhibits anisotropy in all these properties, though Gd is a S-state ion.Comment: RevTeX, 5 pages, 6 encapsulated postscript figures; scheduled to be
published in Phy. Rev. B (01 November 1999, B1
Solar physics at the Kodaikanal Observatory: A Historical Perspective
This article traces the birth and growth of solar physics at the Kodaikanal
Observatory of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, India. A major
discovery took place here in 1909 by John Evershed who detected radial outflow
of matter in the penumbra of sunspots. Major developments at the Observatory
since its inception in 1899 as well as the scientific results are highlighted.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures To appear in "Magnetic Coupling between the
Interior and the Atmosphere of the Sun", eds. S.S. Hasan and R.J. Rutten,
Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg,
Berlin, 200
Radio Observations of the Supernova Remnant Candidate G312.5-3.0
The radio images from the Parkes-MIT-NRAO (PMN) Southern Sky Survey at 4850
MHz have revealed a number of previously unknown radio sources. One such
source, G312.5-3.0 (PMN J1421-6415), has been observed using the
multi-frequency capabilities of the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at
frequencies of 1380 MHz and 2378 MHz. Further observations of the source were
made using the Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST) at a frequency
of 843 MHz. The source has an angular size of 18 arcmin and has a distinct
shell structure. We present the reduced multi-frequency observations of this
source and provide a brief argument for its possible identification as a
supernova remnant.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA
Can Life develop in the expanded habitable zones around Red Giant Stars?
We present some new ideas about the possibility of life developing around
sub-giant and red giant stars. Our study concerns the temporal evolution of the
habitable zone. The distance between the star and the habitable zone, as well
as its width, increases with time as a consequence of stellar evolution. The
habitable zone moves outward after the star leaves the main sequence, sweeping
a wider range of distances from the star until the star reaches the tip of the
asymptotic giant branch. If life could form and evolve over time intervals from
to years, then there could be habitable planets with
life around red giant stars. For a 1 M star at the first stages of
its post main-sequence evolution, the temporal transit of the habitable zone is
estimated to be of several 10 years at 2 AU and around 10 years at 9
AU. Under these circumstances life could develop at distances in the range 2-9
AU in the environment of sub-giant or giant stars and in the far distant future
in the environment of our own Solar System. After a star completes its first
ascent along the Red Giant Branch and the He flash takes place, there is an
additional stable period of quiescent He core burning during which there is
another opportunity for life to develop. For a 1 M star there is an
additional years with a stable habitable zone in the region from 7 to 22
AU. Space astronomy missions, such as proposed for the Terrestrial Planet
Finder (TPF) and Darwin should also consider the environments of sub-giants and
red giant stars as potentially interesting sites for understanding the
development of life
In Search of Possible Associations between Planetary Nebulae and Open Clusters
We consider the possibility of cluster membership for 13 planetary nebulae
that are located in close proximity to open clusters lying in their lines of
sight. The short lifetimes and low sample size of intermediate-mass planetary
nebulae with respect to nearby open clusters conspire to reduce the probability
of observing a true association. Not surprisingly, line of sight coincidences
almost certainly exist for 7 of the 13 cases considered. Additional studies are
advocated, however, for 6 planetary nebula/open cluster coincidences in which a
physical association is not excluded by the available evidence, namely M
1-80/Berkeley 57, NGC 2438/NGC 2437, NGC 2452/NGC 2453, VBRC 2 & NGC 2899/IC
2488, and HeFa 1/NGC 6067. A number of additional potential associations
between planetary nebulae and open clusters is tabulated for reference
purposes. It is noteworthy that the strongest cases involve planetary nebulae
lying in cluster coronae, a feature also found for short-period cluster
Cepheids, which are themselves potential progenitors of planetary nebulae.Comment: Accepted for publication in PASP (December 2007
Quadratic pseudosupersymmetry in two-level systems
Using the intertwining relation we construct a pseudosuperpartner for a
(non-Hermitian) Dirac-like Hamiltonian describing a two-level system
interacting in the rotating wave approximation with the electric component of
an electromagnetic field. The two pseudosuperpartners and pseudosupersymmetry
generators close a quadratic pseudosuperalgebra. A class of time dependent
electric fields for which the equation of motion for a two level system placed
in this field can be solved exactly is obtained. New interesting phenomenon is
observed. There exists such a time-dependent detuning of the field frequency
from the resonance value that the probability to populate the excited level
ceases to oscillate and becomes a monotonically growing function of time
tending to 3/4. It is shown that near this fixed excitation regime the
probability exhibits two kinds of oscillations. The oscillations with a small
amplitude and a frequency close to the Rabi frequency (fast oscillations) take
place at the background of the ones with a big amplitude and a small frequency
(slow oscillations). During the period of slow oscillations the minimal value
of the probability to populate the excited level may exceed 1/2 suggesting for
an ensemble of such two-level atoms the possibility to acquire the inverse
population and exhibit lasing properties.Comment: 5 figure
Prediction of Anisotropic Single-Dirac-Cones in BiSb Thin Films
The electronic band structures of BiSb thin films can be
varied as a function of temperature, pressure, stoichiometry, film thickness
and growth orientation. We here show how different anisotropic
single-Dirac-cones can be constructed in a BiSb thin film for
different applications or research purposes. For predicting anisotropic
single-Dirac-cones, we have developed an iterative-two-dimensional-two-band
model to get a consistent inverse-effective-mass-tensor and band-gap, which can
be used in a general two-dimensional system that has a non-parabolic dispersion
relation as in a BiSb thin film system
QCD sum rules at finite temperature
We derive thermal QCD sum rules for the correlation function of two vector
currents in the rho-meson channel. It takes into account the leading
non-perturbative corrections from the additional operators, which appear due to
the breakdown of Lorentz invariance at finite temperature. The mixing of the
new operators has a drastic effect on their coefficients. The thermal average
of all the operators can be related to that of the quark condensate and the
energy density. The sum rules then yield the temperature dependence of the
parameters of the -meson, namely its mass and coupling to the vector
current. Our result is that these parameters are practically independent of
temperature at least up to a temperature of 125 MeV.Comment: 11 pages, revtex, 2 figure
Exploiting Inter- and Intra-Memory Asymmetries for Data Mapping in Hybrid Tiered-Memories
Modern computing systems are embracing hybrid memory comprising of DRAM and
non-volatile memory (NVM) to combine the best properties of both memory
technologies, achieving low latency, high reliability, and high density. A
prominent characteristic of DRAM-NVM hybrid memory is that it has NVM access
latency much higher than DRAM access latency. We call this inter-memory
asymmetry. We observe that parasitic components on a long bitline are a major
source of high latency in both DRAM and NVM, and a significant factor
contributing to high-voltage operations in NVM, which impact their reliability.
We propose an architectural change, where each long bitline in DRAM and NVM is
split into two segments by an isolation transistor. One segment can be accessed
with lower latency and operating voltage than the other. By introducing tiers,
we enable non-uniform accesses within each memory type (which we call
intra-memory asymmetry), leading to performance and reliability trade-offs in
DRAM-NVM hybrid memory. We extend existing NVM-DRAM OS in three ways. First, we
exploit both inter- and intra-memory asymmetries to allocate and migrate memory
pages between the tiers in DRAM and NVM. Second, we improve the OS's page
allocation decisions by predicting the access intensity of a newly-referenced
memory page in a program and placing it to a matching tier during its initial
allocation. This minimizes page migrations during program execution, lowering
the performance overhead. Third, we propose a solution to migrate pages between
the tiers of the same memory without transferring data over the memory channel,
minimizing channel occupancy and improving performance. Our overall approach,
which we call MNEME, to enable and exploit asymmetries in DRAM-NVM hybrid
tiered memory improves both performance and reliability for both single-core
and multi-programmed workloads.Comment: 15 pages, 29 figures, accepted at ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium
on Memory Managemen
Measurement of Branching Fractions and Rate Asymmetries in the Rare Decays B -> K(*) l+ l-
In a sample of 471 million BB events collected with the BABAR detector at the
PEP-II e+e- collider we study the rare decays B -> K(*) l+ l-, where l+ l- is
either e+e- or mu+mu-. We report results on partial branching fractions and
isospin asymmetries in seven bins of di-lepton mass-squared. We further present
CP and lepton-flavor asymmetries for di-lepton masses below and above the J/psi
resonance. We find no evidence for CP or lepton-flavor violation. The partial
branching fractions and isospin asymmetries are consistent with the Standard
Model predictions and with results from other experiments.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.
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